In the early 1970s, he was the sidekick of Danièle Gilbert, the host of Midi Première. Martin created and hosted such popular satirical TV shows such as Le Petit Rapporteur ("The Little Snitch , 1975 - 1976, TF1) and La Lorgnette ("The Opera Glasses", 1976 - 1977, Antenne 2). He also tried a film career, writing and directing one film (Na !, 1973) and playing in others such as La Passante du Sans-Souci, without great success.

An operetta fan, he enjoyed presenting TV shows mixing popular and classical music, such as Musique and music, which he prepared with the help of French composer Pierre Porte, invariably singing himself a few operetta arias himself during the show.[citation needed]

He was a great discoverer of talents throughout his career, with future success such as Pierre Desproges, Stéphane Collaro, Laurent Ruquier or Laurent Gerra. He was also good at creating new concepts for television shows, the most famous being Le Petit Rapporteur and L'École des Fans. He was particularly apt at interacting with small children on television, which was the reason of the success of L'École des Fans. On a side note, L'École des Fans was the first television appearance of French singer Vanessa Paradis, in 1980; she was 7 years old.

He was a regular of the radio show Les Grosses Têtes. He was also an admirer of Sacha Guitry, whom he liked to quote and whose mannerisms he tried to emulate.

Until 1998, he was hosting the entire afternoon of France 2 on Sundays, with a show called Dimanche Martin. Martin died, aged 74, from cancer, on 14 September 2007 in the Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz, where he had settled.